Kill My Nightmare
by TheMonarchyOfRoses
Summary: Sarah and Tom knock on Huey's door at midnight, revealing Jazmine was missing in the dark. With a heart full of protective malice, Huey goes out to locate his missing, and most likely frightened, best friend. Question is, should they return, do they return the same way they left? Huey X Jazmine
1. j

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

Huey absolutely abhorred the instances in which she would bombard him with this stupid question. He laid on his back while she sat erect, next to him, underneath their serene tree, surrendering to Autumn. The breeze was chilled yet pleasant, as the Hill had seemed to sometimes split a wind gust, or perhaps it was just the difference in altitude. Their Afro's lightly bounced with the wind. It was the last clear nights for a while, or so the Weather Channel had predicted. Huey had taken it upon himself to read his Almanac he had for reasons undefined and was slightly amused that the book had predicted the same overcast and storms to linger. Hues of indigo and caramel-orange coated the skies as the sun made its way to descending.

Usually Huey had come to his sacred Hill to seek spiritual insight or to develop his deepest and profound thoughts, but this time he had just wanted to clear his head for a change. He had already attempted meditating, but his brother proved to be a hopeless distraction. Jazmine was not exactly any better. He opened one eye and looked at the mixed child clinging to her knees, eyes indicating her need of approval. He was a little disgusted.

"Jazmine, go home to your parents if you want to be called pretty."

"But they _have _to tell that! I know you wouldn't lie to me!"

"You're seriously drawing unnecessary worry over your looks, and you use the fact that they lied to you to rationalize it? Jazmine, they've lied to you about almost everything. I always try to warn you about you're getting into, and you never believe me until things get disastrous. Why, out of everything I could enlighten you on, do you wish to know how I think you _look?_"

She sighed and crossed her arms. "I just wanted to know! You never gave me a straight answer! I won't ask any more." Huey was sure that he had not heard the end of it. The sun had been more than half way down the mountain when they fully watched the sunset.

"We should probably get going now. It'll be dark by the time we get home."

"Why can't we just stay a little-"

"No." He gave her a wicked scowl that told her to give up. The message conveyed well to her as they walked down. The street lights were lit and the suburbs quiet. Jazmine was well adjusted to his bitterness enough to be able to continue to talk him into madness. "Huey?"

He continued to lead them. "I've been having a bad dream a lot lately and it's really bothering me. Don't you know a lot about dreams and stuff?"

"We all have that dream where we are naked. It's a primal instinct."

"In my dream I'm dying. But it's like I've been killed and I'm alone in the dark somewhere outside." She began crying silently. "Sometimes I feel like a scary monster is gonna get me, Huey." A group of three racoons knocked over empty metal trash bins across the street, making Jazmine yelp and jump onto Huey's back. He almost immediately dropped her off of him. She tailgated him, holding onto his long, dark pea coat. He grunted inwardly, but he decided that it didn't impede his movement, so he let it go.

"Jazmine, should you meet any monsters in this world, they'll all be human. I promise you that."

"I don't want to get killed by anybody!" She began crying.

"It's life, Jazmine! People have been atrocious to each other in regards to human rights and dignity since civilization began. There are murderers, rapists, child molesters, slave owners, corrupted power officials and governments, and they're walking all among us! You probably didn't even know there's a man kidnapping little girls around this damn neighborhood. If you thought what Wuncler did to you with that lemonade stand was cruel, you should visit the girls our age working in his Vietnamese sweatshop, or the mass farming industry he owns where your precious horse was coming from!"

She still cried. Why was he being so mean? He had never been this particularly snappy.

"Apparently you're actually a complete Caucasian after all. You don't know what it is to be horrified."

"And you do?" She asked back.

"I've seen enough in my lifetime so far. More than enough, more than you could ever deal with. Most of it didn't even happen to me. You could never deal with anything horrible. You've never had to suffer."

She was hurt, but she was scared. She still clung as Huey could feel her vulnerability. They walked withing inches of each other until they were near Jazmine's house. As per his decorum with her, he walked her to her doorstep and left as soon as she closed her door. He wondered why he even bothered with her sometimes. He thought that even though she didn't know much of reality, she still listened to him, and would even help him in whatever he needed done. But that made her another sheep, though. He felt so conflicted about her personality. It just truly frustrated him that she was so smart but so sheltered. When she wasn't being a sensitive crybaby she could actually hold her own against him. She was even able to send some bitter remarks that actually made _Huey _feel bad. The more he thought about that, the more he realized that he must have made her feel like that on an almost daily basis whenever he preached upon his peripheral soapbox to her.

He had brushed his teeth and changed into his pajamas by the stroke of ten on the clock. Riley had been wasting his mind on television downstairs for his weekend, leaving Huey to a one person sleeping situation. He laid down on his bed. Reflecting on his day, he felt a little guilty for being so harsh to Jazmine. He didn't mean half of what he said. Well, he did, but he could have put it into better context. He also had taken particular interest in her dream. Recounting his dreams, he had some too eerily similar to her frightening nightmare. If there was one region where he should be more sympathetic, it was the significance of dreams and their affects on people. He had himself many nights of repeated terror he wished not to know and forget. He knew she was feeling the exact same way if she had to bring it up. He dismissed everything and went to sleep.

When it was noon Huey had been outside, raking the mountains of leaves. It killed him that the tree hadn't even begun to fully shed and he was the only one who did outside work. He was actually the one who did the most work around the house, to which he figured to be his lot in his child life. Compared to what other kids were being forced to do, it wasn't such a bad deal in the end. He had finally gotten the leaves into a neat and concise pile. He was furtively proud of his work there. He threw the rake to the tree in the yard, it landing upright and read for it's next use, which seemed to be pretty soon as Jazmine jumped into the pile.

"Hey!" He scolded. "I expect you to help clean this." He scowled. She giggled and grabbed the rake, doing as she was told.

"I just thought I'd say hi before I left for Cindy's. I'm hanging out with her all day until my parents come home at eight." The mess wasn't that big, and she was already half done.

"That's pretty late. Aren't you going to sleep over at her house?"

"I don't wanna sleep over. Besides, I know a shortcut through the park."

"Whatever." He muttered as he went inside his house. She stood up and sighed as she walked away. She wondered why she even bothered with his miserable attitude. She knew by now he didn't really care for her. Suppressing her hurt, she sulked her way to Cindy's house. It had been overcast and gray, amplifying her gloomy mood. She just felt like today was going to be a bad day.

Huey wasn't too happy to be woken up merely minutes after going to bed that night. Tom and Sarah had rudely interrupted their Saturday night sleep by pounding relentlessly on their door, screaming as if they had witnessed a genocide. Huey was the only person with any incentive to open the door to the annoying couple. Their faces have never looked so flushed and morose. He saw crying parents without their crybaby daughter. He knew immediately it had to do with Jazmine.

"Jazmine never came home tonight, did she?" Huey concluded.

They incoherently cried.

He didn't need to deal with their incessant tears, so his briskly promised to find her and dashed to his room with utmost urgency. He didn't bother to listen to his sibling's protests to being woken up as he threw on his boots and pea coat. He also went under his bed and strapped his katana to his back. He dashed out of the window and made his way to the place he was sure to find her.

Meanwhile, Jazmine wished that Huey was there to tell her how stupid she was for being at the park so late and alone and to take her home. She was cold, too, because at Cindy's house, they had given each other makeovers. Jazmine wore a black dress more appropriate for the Summer time. She had no make up on other than a light peach lip gloss. She noticed she wasn't even at the fun part of the park, instead being on a convoluted path around the woods. She even wished her father were with her, if only to distract her from the dark. She couldn't even call the moon for company.

She walked around without a jacket and shivered. She enjoyed the sounds of the leaves crunching under her feet remotely. Some squirrels were still out and about in the park, mostly running around in the chase of mating. She walked until she saw the single working light post in a while near the pond. She discovered areas of ice on the surface of the water. That meant that at most the temperature was thirty two degrees. She knew she had to get out of there as soon as possible now. She was thankful at least there was no windchill. She leaned over and saw her reflection in the water. Only now she realized how foolish she looked like that. Cindy had somewhat straightened her hair, which was already coiling back into her beautiful African curls. Although it was huge and poofy, her hair was actually as soft as the clouds. She had taken out the pins and put her hair back into her puffy pigtails. The dress had pockets that came in use for holding all of the jewelry she was sick of wearing. She continued to evaluate her phenotypes and began to feel shame for trying to modify what she had. Her hair and light tint to the skin were her only prominent African features. She recalled Huey telling her father to enhance her African beauty. Ever since she heard him tell her father such a statement, she's been obsessed with getting Huey to admit she thought she was pretty. She had rarely heard anything positive come out of the young rebel's mouth, and for the good to be directed to her; she felt that she deserved it to a degree for being there for Huey and for him always being there for her. Now she desperately wished Huey was there to walk her home.

She stopped wasting time and walked away from the freezing body of water. She continued strolling down the dimly lit sidewalk, determined to get home. She vowed to never stay out at dark ever again. Her nightmare came flashing to her again, making her even more fearful than before. In contrast to her optimistic nature, she carried the idiosyncrasy that manifested as a pessimist in distress. Should this ordeal be during the daytime, or about her getting grounded for staying out too long, she'd be perfectly rational. But her mind crawled into the crevices of utter despair. She was not a natural leader, this being her weakness.

She was walking in a cloud of her fearful thoughts as she was violently jerked into the arms of someone who was obviously much stronger and taller. Her scream only lasted a second before he covered her mouth roughly with his arm. She wiggled and writhed but it only made her attacker latch on tighter. He had a putrid stench coated all over him that made Jazmine want to gag. "You're a pretty girl. You shouldn't be alone out here, should ya?" She managed to muffle out, "Please don't kill me mister!"

He began pacing to the woodsy area of the park, leaving the trail. "Might as well make use of you while I got you, don't worry swee-" He cut himself off with a slash proceeded by an agonized scream. She was dropped and fell to the ground. She noticed a liquid was pouring on her, possibly rain. She couldn't see much of what was going on, but she saw the man get farther away from her, about three feet. She got up and heard another slash, seeing a bright light. She soon heard a huge splatter, feeling drenched. It was her turn to scream as the mangled man fell beside her, lifeless and crimson. She looked at her hands covered in blood, aghast. She was completely covered. She heard a panting in front of her.

She saw Huey, standing tall (for her height) with his katana in hand. It was no longer shining with silver, rather the luster of scarlet. His jacket was tattered and he was covered in even more blood than Jazmine. He slid his weapon back into its case on his back. He reached into his pocket and took out a small spray bottle, spraying his hands and the guy. It smelled heavily like Windex to her. He was thankful he had the sense to bring ammonia.

Huey looked at Jazmine's petrified face. Her eyes were fixed on the corpse of the man who was close to molesting her in the cold. He looked just to validate to himself he was dead. She knew that his intentions were perverse, for his placement of hands was not so innocent. He had noticed too. She was too terrified to even cry, frozen in place as the weather had wished. Huey truly felt sorry for Jazmine. He had wished for as long as he knew her to corrupt the fallacy she had been deluding herself with, but never like this. For Huey, this was not his first, or last, action of extermination. He hadn't felt guilty in killing him, but he didn't take any joy in it either. Well, in this case, he kind of did, feeling satisfied knowing his secured spot in Hell has been taken. He saw the blood on her face, already freezing. Her face illuminated in the lunar light when the moon cascaded it's shine on the dark Earth.

"You look pretty tonight, Jazmine."

She slowly took steps towards him. She sheepishly wrapped her arms around his torso, slowly leaning into him. She was still seeing the trauma of the events that just unfolded, but she was feeling safer near Huey. She had never been more sure of anything else in her life: Huey would protect her. She would never again be upset at his acts of "cruelty", no. This had finally disillusioned her with the world and exposed her to the evil that it is. She knew that Huey would always be there to guide and enlighten her. She knew now that she would stay by his side no matter what to support him in whatever escapade he had planned. Against his stoic nature, Huey tapped into his empathy and wrapped his arms protectively around Jazmine. He was thankful that he had made it on time before anything too traumatic happened. But he saw the bastard's hands and her broken soul. It could probably be mended from this incident, but they both knew it was a night they'd never be able to escape.

Jazmine dispatched from his body heat and shivered on her own again. She felt a sudden warmth when she saw Huey putting his jacket on her, arms through sleeves and all. She was too depressed and shocked to move on her own much. He crouched down and took her arms over his neck, grabbing her legs where her knees connected to the thigh, and began to walk upright. He hated the fact that time revealed its lessons in hindsight. That was the real reason he bothered with trying to teach her the truth about the world. He wanted to prevent this from needing to happen by letting her know not to do what she couldn't handle. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to their worried families at home, carrying a shell shocked Jazmine on his back, both drenched in blood. He was ready in the absolute to take whatever consequences came of this night. As luck would have it, they were all inside of the Freeman household living room; an annoyed but concerned Robert and Riley had executed futile attempts to console the grief stricken DuBios'. Robert knew too well what happened to little girls who were wandering around in the night, and it sickened him. He, and as they all feared, other people, knew she was a beautiful girl.

They had finally made it to the stoop in front of his house. Jazmine was standing on her own; the duo had been silent for about a minute or so. She sighed and went closer to Huey. "Thank you for saving me Huey." She hugged him again, retaining his body heat for herself and him as a source of comfort. In a display of rare affection, Huey gave Jazmine a quick little kiss on her lips. He rang the doorbell and held her close, scowling at the world while she cried.


	2. Bye Bye Nightmare

Huey wasn't accustomed to Jazmine's sporadic absence from his daily routine, but he had nonetheless expected it to happen. He recalled that by now, it was approximately a month since he saved her in the park and slayed her predator. Any normal child would have been traumatized by the nearly executed unknown. He had been peering through the blinds of his window parallel to her's. Not once had he seen any rustling or opening to her own blinds. He lately noticed that he was only half annoyed as he walked to school with Riley, only one voice bullshitting him into oblivion. He figured that she was either driven to school or was being home schooled, at least for the time being. It wasn't a conscious instinct for him to miss her, but he inexplicably did.

He sighed and sat on his bed late that Saturday afternoon. Riley was spending most of the day with a friend and his family at a theme park, while Grandad snored away in his bedroom for a nap. Huey wondered why she was taking so long to recover. Granted it was a horrible situation, but she'd seen violence many times before on television and in reality. Rethinking that last statement, he remembered that she was never particularly calm in physical chaos, let alone seeing somebody die; it was likely the first time she had ever seen that. His scowl slightly deepened as he remembered that bastard. He couldn't put a face to an entity, fitting his description of him as a demon.

The instant the door was answered that night was the worst for Huey. Tom and Sarah dove on their knees to embrace their weeping child, ceaselessly thanking the young boy for finding her in the dark. Riley was the very first to notice the gore that coated his brother and (ostensible) friend. He was close to blatantly remarking the blood, but he was granted a swift knock up on his head before he could reach the subject of his sentence. Grandad noticed seconds after, shooting a troubled look at Huey. The young samurai brushed past the ethnically diverse group and made his way into the house, removing his boots and shirt. He raced up the stairs to hide his sword, then dress in a dirty yet dried shirt before coming back down. While in his room he heard the mortified screams of Sarah and the pained yell of Tom. They had all been rushed back into the living room by the time he was downstairs again. He walked into the room to see a shell shocked Jazmine shake on the loveseat, parents swarming over her. Riley and Grandad had kept their distance, and were thankful for having done so when Tom had begun ferociously yelling at Huey for what he thought could have happened. The sympathetic side of Huey realized that should he ever in the future find his own child a crying, bloodied mess, he'd lose the better part of his temper as well. He let Tom finish his rage before pulling him aside to a corner to recount the events. They were all attempting to eavesdrop and hear the story, but could tell by the gradual fall of Tom's face that it held worse tales than they originally thought. A half an hour after returning, the DuBios adults felt it time to venture home, but the poor girl refused to move from her spot or let Huey leave her side (he hadn't planned on doing so anyway). The hurt and worried parents let her sleep over that night. There had been no conversation between the two, only the action of Huey combing his fingers through Jazmine's hair, which seemed to calm her ever so slightly. Neither of them slept.

And since that long night, she had devolved into living in her room for the second time in her life. He had made no attempts to visit her, feeling that when she felt ready, she would reach out to him, even if through her parents. They haven't heard any update from their annoying neighbors. The atmosphere in their block of Woodcrest was raped of the graceful transcendence of the seasons and friendly ways. Though the cold usually reduced the number of kids playing outside on the streets, Huey noticed the dramatic decrease in their numbers to the point of almost none playing anymore.

Another incident he couldn't ignore was the one loud argument he heard a few days ago. He could hear Sarah screaming her head off incoherently, but her final line was particularly articulate;

"You are such an unfeeling bitch!"

He was surprised it wasn't followed by a fit of tears, rather silence.

Huey's recollection of observations were interrupted by a ringing on his doorbell. He had made his way to his door to answer downstairs, but Grandad had beat him to it, due to waking up earlier than anticipated. He heard Tom's voice at the door, restored to its usual annoying glory. He even heard laughter after a second or so. He could only infer that things were improving, if even in the slightest, at the DuBios household. After a minute or so, he heard the slam of the door and found Grandad standing in his room, informing him that he and the DuBios' would be going out for a special dinner at a new bar, leaving the kids behind at the house. Normally, a guardian would be skeptical of leaving two children alone, especially when they were oppositely gendered towards one another, but he had been under the impression that his grandson was almost if not completely asexual. Huey sighed.

Soon enough Grandad was dressed and their annoying neighbors filled the space of their front porch. Grandad told Huey to answer the door with him. He didn't put up an argument, but he had great apprehension to do so. He hadn't seen her in weeks, and he knew he wouldn't be dealing with the Jazmine he knew, or so he was believing. They opened the door to two smiling parents and a child with the face of apathy. Huey scanned her with his observational nature; he couldn't detect the slightest bit of emotion in her face, her body language vague, almost completely neutral. He just noticed, too, that she was hardly even blinking.

"You best behave boy, don't manipulate her precious little mind to your nasty perversions and shit. See you soon cutie pie." He lightly ruffled the top of her hair, to which she didn't move a muscle. The adults left the children in the house and ventured off to their dinner. As she stepped in, she kicked her boots off, respecting Huey's rule of no shoes in the house, revealing her bare feet.

He was actually quite uncomfortable right now. His role was to be aggravated and silent while she filled the volumes with light conversation and banter, hoping to at least receive a curt response. But now he realized that if he didn't initiate the talking, it would be a silent night. But he didn't know what to say. Too much time had passed to say hello; he wasn't sure if she was eager to hear what he had to say anyway.

"You okay?" It seemed appropriate enough.

She didn't answer. Her stoic eyes saw right through him; their eyes were level with each other and parallel, but she wasn't looking at him. She finally made a movement with her hand to tuck her untamed curl behind her left ear.

"You want to sit down? Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

No response. He felt sorry for her little broken soul. He wasn't about to stand in the direction of discomfort, so he gingerly but firmly took her hand and walked her up the stairs into his bedroom. He was grateful that Riley was gone long enough for Huey to clean both halves of the room and to finally neutralize the foul odor his brother was proud of, stating that all gangstas need their own distinctive, "trademark stank". Walking past the mirror, he only then realized he wasn't scowling, but had a sympathetic look, a foreign emotion to him.

He sat her down on his bed and joined her. Her hands were neatly folded in her lap, where her gaze was fixed, and she slouched. She finally made some sound and released a soft yet audible sigh. Her face was still devoid of emotion and it was bothering Huey immensely. He needed to break this silence.

"I think you look pretty today." He nearly managed the slightest curl at the ends of his lips, but it wasn't at all noticeable except to him. He felt... odd, to say the least. He hated having to be the person to cheer up another, so he had never placed that burden upon himself before. But there he was, selling out his disgust towards the aesthetic strive of beauty.

He guessed he was doing this because on some level, he loved her. Not in the romantic sense, more platonic, like that of a sister or best friend.

"If that's your way of getting me to smile it's not going to work, Huey." She spat. He never heard her voice with such a sting in it before.

"I'm just trying to be nice, Jazmine." His scowl returned.

"Why bother? It'll just go unnoticed in the end. It all will."

He was alarmed at her new found gloomy disposition. "How so?"

"Five girls around our town were found raped and murdered in a riverbank in the last month. In that time, there were multiple robberies, shootings, gang wars, overdoses, parents abusing children, homeless people freezing and starving to death. And that's just here, within ten miles from us. God only knows the multiple genocides taking place right now."

Her speech had confirmed that she had been in fact listening to his ramblings to her about the atrocious world. He never intended for them to make her miserable, just aware. He actually desired her optimism, even for himself sometimes. Such a source of impenetrable cheerfulness was a candle in a dark room for Huey. A bit blinding at times, but saving. He couldn't bare to witness the flame disappear.

"Since you began your depressing recap of events, forty new babies were born."

"And twenty three people died." She countered. He was surprised that her statement was approximately correct.

She wasn't in the mood for his false sympathy. Well, she knew the cynic was being sincere, but she just saw no hope. She couldn't see the world through her old eyes anymore. The colors that painted the sunset sky fell to gray. The sun's light faded into a soft glow. Nobody ever smiled.

"I never see you at school or even hear from you."

"The school sends my work home."

"What else have you been doing this past month?" He asked.

"Reading. It's the only way I feel like I can leave the world behind."

"Me too."

She didn't respond to him, hoping that his interrogation, or so it felt to her, was over. He could sense she wasn't in the mood for talking. He looked at the side of her cheek and noticed it shimmered. He gently cupped her chin with his hand, earning him a slight flinch from her, and turned her face towards him, revealing numerous silents tears polluting her beautiful face. Her eyebrows were arched upwards and her mouth quietly quivered. She bit her bottom, trying to swallow sadness.

"It's alright if you need to cry, Jazmine."

"I'm not crying and not going to!" She argued defensively.

He sighed and wrapped his protective arms around his struggling friend. She tried to pry herself away, yelling at him to let her go, but she soon broke down and sobbed heavily into his shirt. He didn't enjoy her tears but they quenched his thirst for his hope of her emotional state. It was most likely out of whack at the moment, but he was beginning to fear that perhaps it was deteriorated. Her arms soon wrapped around his torso as her sobs began to calm. In a few minutes they devolved to sniffles.

She pulled herself out of his grasp and wiped her nose, Huey taking the liberty of drying her tears. She turned her head to face him, an action she wasn't sure why had become difficult for her. Her cheeks were crimsoned as a result of her weeping, tinting her a blush. Her eyes shined like the emeralds they resembled, in both shape and color, or so Huey always thought.

He felt like he was loosing himself in his small kindness. He tried to keep his affections at the extreme minimum, reserving it for only the most important occasions. He figured that now was appropriate to swallow his pride and loner attitude for the sake of his only friend. In the grand scheme of it all, he wanted his earnest efforts to result in a fair payoff; her smile. He missed that the most of all.

She stopped crying but was still moping. It angered him that his oratory skills would be of no use to him to make her smile, for he was simply not versed in happy conversation. What he had in mind was juvenile and a bit dire, but he felt as if he simply had no other choice. He made a grab for her ankles, her being surprised she wasn't fast enough to move out of the way, then dangled off of his bed after shrieking.

"Stop it! What are you doing, Huey!?"

"I haven't even started yet." He smirked lightly.

He relentlessly began tickling her exposed feet, inciting nearly instantaneous laughter from the girl. She twisted and contorted as the tickling became more intense. He gave her interval breaks for a few seconds at a time so she could recover her breath, only to attack her with a torturous tickle. This continued for a few more minutes until his lean yet strong arms hoisted her back upon the bed. To his surprised relief, she was still laughing. She breathed more evenly and sighed in a more content manner. A silence pregnant with serenity filled the atmosphere around them.

"I haven't cried, or smiled, in so long. I forgot what it was like."

"I'm glad to remind you any day."

She was prepared to thank him, but she was still spurred into the moment of bliss and kissed his lips for a generous second, making a light smack as she parted. She gasped and covered her mouth after she pulled away, having never had the audacity to pursue any of the feelings she had developed for the militant peacemaker. Huey gently pried her hands from her face and gave her a gift that was of equal importance to her as her smile was to him:

His own rare and genuine grin.

Jazmine was completely mesmerized by it's unexpected grace. She was even more astounded by the bold move executed by him, planting another sweet, yet chaste, kiss on her soft lips. His smile dissipated afterward, resuming his face to a striking frown. She was alright with it, for she found his scowl cute. Very cute.

Huey had no intentions to label Jazmine as his girlfriend, partner, or anything. His ten years of living had never prepared him for such a complex feeling towards the petite mulatto. While getting lost in his thoughts, Jazmine wrapped her fingers around his, cupping his hand in hers. He wanted to protect her, teach her, guide her, make her smile. He hated to admit it (albeit just to himself), but he was wondering if he had actually fallen under her charm and into the cavern of life he hoped to completely skip over; genuine love. He knew they were both too young to actually be in love, but he knew he had a stronger than magnetic attraction to her. And he could feel it on her side as well.

Against his better judgment, he was about to lean in for another kiss. But before he could make a noticeable movement, the door burst open at the hands of an obnoxious brother, moaning and bitching about how his friend was super gay by eating every piece of candy in sight at the theme park, and how the weather was even gayer for raining. It just so happened that they heard Grandad and the DuBois' enter the household as soon as Riley was done complaining. In his momentary silence, his eyes found his way to the duo's intertwined fingers and hands, igniting a laughter in him.

"Keep making fun of us, and we'll give you something to laugh about, Riley." Jazmine warned.

"What'chu gonna do bout it, you half nigga? Young Reezy laughs when Young Reezy wants." He said as he plopped on his side onto his mattress, back to them. As the other two reluctantly parted hands and got up from the bed, the silently crept to Riley's bed, fingers twitching and smirks deepening.

.

.

.

.

Nobody, not even Huey and Jazmine, knew what they were after that day. There had been speculation around the school after she returned that they were dating, which they never denied nor validated. Huey was just grateful that over time, Jazmine had been mostly restored to her former self. What had changed, though, was her gullible and naïve looking glass. She was becoming more aware by the day under his facilitation, but she was a weapon he needed for his revolution, as she had a great capacity of which he did not: forgiveness and great compassion. He wasn't cold blooded, but he was cold. She would sail into the dark with him. They were the backwards love in revolution.


End file.
